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MacBook only works with charger plugged in.

O

Oakfield

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 16, 2021
10
0
Hi everyone.

I picked up a cheap second hand MacBook Pro, 2015.
I was told that it had liquid damage years ago and since then only ever works when plugged in to the charger, but no other symptoms.
battery info and Coconut Battery both showed battery health was good and was charging, but as soon as the charger was unplugged it would shut down instantly.

i tried doing SMC and PRAM resets but nothing changed.
I then thought I would change the battery as I know they can sometimes cause issues after getting liquid damage.
When I opened up the case, I could see evidence of the liquid spill and there was some corrosion on the board which I cleaned with isopropyl alcohol. Unfortunately this still didn’t solve the problem.

The new battery is also showing as good health and charging but still no good.

Can anyone suggest what would be the next thing to look at, or is it a lost cause?!
 
As I said above, I replaced the battery and there was no improvement.
 
I forgot to menton, I have also tried a new brand new, genuine Apple charger.
The battery is charging, the MacBook is communicating with the battery to get information from it, but power isn’t getting from the battery to the MacBook.
 
Oakfield said:
I forgot to menton, I have also tried a new brand new, genuine Apple charger.
The battery is charging, the MacBook is communicating with the battery to get information from it, but power isn’t getting from the battery to the MacBook.
Click to expand...
Obviously something is wrong with the part that connects the battery to the mac internally. Take it to a service center.
 
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Reactions: smirking
Oakfield said:
Hi everyone.

I picked up a cheap second hand MacBook Pro, 2015.
I was told that it had liquid damage years ago and since then only ever works when plugged in to the charger, but no other symptoms.
battery info and Coconut Battery both showed battery health was good and was charging, but as soon as the charger was unplugged it would shut down instantly.

i tried doing SMC and PRAM resets but nothing changed.
I then thought I would change the battery as I know they can sometimes cause issues after getting liquid damage.
When I opened up the case, I could see evidence of the liquid spill and there was some corrosion on the board which I cleaned with isopropyl alcohol. Unfortunately this still didn’t solve the problem.

The new battery is also showing as good health and charging but still no good.

Can anyone suggest what would be the next thing to look at, or is it a lost cause?!
Click to expand...
I have an older MBP too with the same issue. I took it to a local shop and was told there are a couple chips by the power connector that regulate the AC and they are bad. The fix costs more than the laptop is worth so I used it plugged in for a couple years. It is now not working well even plugged in. Very slow. Mine was 2012 and I have new Airs that I use but it seemed a shame for an otherwise perfectly good laptop to be unusable.
 
Thank you.
The reason I am asking on here is because I want to avoid taking it to service centre.
It would probably cost more than it’s worth spending on this.
 
Oakfield said:
Thank you.
The reason I am asking on here is because I want to avoid taking it to service centre.
It would probably cost more than it’s worth spending on this.
Click to expand...
A third party service center. The can most likely tell u what's wrong for a small fee. Then you decide if you want to fix it.
 
Was the original osx running?
(scraping the side of the barrel here)
apple is always telling us our older batteries need servicing when they dont!
my battery is great in snow leopard, but bad in mojave
 
MBAir2010 said:
Was the original osx running?
(scraping the side of the barrel here)
apple is always telling us our older batteries need servicing when they dont!
my battery is great in snow leopard, but bad in mojave
Click to expand...
It is running Big Sur. Which is obviously not the original.
 
A few days ago I had some odd behaviour.
It was plugged into the power and I noticed the light on the MagSafe was orange, indicating that it was charging.
this never happens as it is constantly at 100% because it doesn’t use any battery power!
I opened it up and battery level was down to 35% and it is now telling me the battery has reduced capacity and needs servicing. Although coconut battery is saying everything is fine.
the battery has charged to 100% and stayed there ever since.
 
arche3 said:
Obviously something is wrong with the part that connects the battery to the mac internally. Take it to a service center.
Click to expand...

I don't know exactly how everything connects together in a 2015 MBP, but it's weird that the OP is getting reports of the battery being fine from Coconut Battery and yet the battery is clearly not supplying enough power if any at all. Is there a separate diagnostic pin in the battery interface that doesn't carry power?
 
smirking said:
I don't know exactly how everything connects together in a 2015 MBP, but it's weird that the OP is getting reports of the battery being fine from Coconut Battery and yet the battery is clearly not supplying enough power if any at all. Is there a separate diagnostic pin in the battery interface that doesn't carry power?
Click to expand...
I'm trying to remember if our repair tech place had such diagnosis equipment to test the batery
but I do remember a problem we had with our customers trying figuring out the battery life on a bunch of these 2015 MacBooks, pros and airs.
the best solution was have them calibrate the battery (run that empty, plug for 2 hours after discharge, unplug) when I think El Cap was realized. I remember how Mavericks just ate battery so much, the MacBook Air went back to Mt lion until high Sierra was released.
best I can do beside have the logic board fully tested.
 
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